It was pouring rain and dark and Julie Meskine was lost. She was trying to make her way onto the Queensborough Bridge but the Surrey resident got turned around in New West’s west end. Suddenly her car stalled. She tried to restart it once, twice, three times and finally the engine sprang to life. Meskine paused for a moment and when she looked up, out her bleary window she realized where she was. She was at Eighth Avenue and 23rd Street – the site of her son’s roadside memorial.
“I imagine he was missing me,” Meskine said.
Meskine and a dozen friends and family were huddled around a telephone pole at the end of Eighth Avenue on Saturday night to remember her son Karim.
The evening marked the one-year anniversary of his death, when his family chose to take the just turned 20-year-old off life support. Three days earlier he was beaten by a 16-year-old New West teen (whose name will not be released) near the 22nd SkyTrain Station.“
The teen was arrested and charged with second-degree murder shortly after the incident. Since then, Karim’s mother, friends and family have been following the case through the courts to see that justice is served, Meskine said.
“It’s for our family, first of all, to remember,” she said of the large, waterproof photo that was posted to the telephone pole during the vigil Saturday night. “I like, in a way, to leave it there so that neighbours that didn’t actually step out to do something, can remember he could have been saved if someone actually did. That could be your loved one, that could be yourself.”
Meskine said she hopes the trial will draw attention to her son and what happened to him, rather than the teen charged with his murder. It’s about a need for public safety, she added.
“If we don’t help each other then where is the world going?” She said. “That’s my main thing.”
The teen accused of killing Karim was in court on Dec. 4 to set a date for his trial but the scheduling was postponed. He will be back in court on Jan. 15 to fix the date.
Because the accused is a young offender, Meskine is worried he won’t receive the maximum sentence, which she believes he deserves.
“I hope the public opinion will put pressure and help with that matter. If you’re somebody responsible for that kind of crime you should have the maximum, and that’s what I hope the public will step up and put pressure,” she said.
Friends and family gathered at the vigil echoed Meskine’s concerns and pledged that they too will see the trial through to the end.
Karim was attacked on his way to the 22nd Street SkyTrain Station on Dec. 17, 2013. He was found badly injured by a passerby who called 911. A suspect was arrested almost right away, and charged with second-degree murder when Karim was taken off of life-support. At the time, investigators with the Integrated Homicide Investigation Team did not release any information on motive. The accused remains in custody at this time.
In the meantime, Meskine is keeping her son’s memory alive. Events like Saturday’s vigil are part of the journey, she said, before kissing Karim’s photo.
